Kaori Ito, a Natural Born Artist

Originally from Tokyo, Kaori Ito began dancing at the age of five. Thirteen years later, the renowned critic Ryouiti Enomoto named her the best young dancer and choreographer. She thus became one of the most sought-after dancers for the most famous modern choreographers, from Philippe Decouflé to Angelin Preljocaj.

Having studied sociology and education at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, Kaori Ito also creates videos and paintings and is a regular on the theatre scene, particularly in collaboration with the French actors Édouard Baer and Denis Podalydès. In 2015, she was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France.

Her creation Robot, l’Amour Éternel (2018) is the final episode in an autobiographical trilogy, begun in 2015. On the stage, a simple white square, she dances following instructions given by Siri, the Apple AI app, as if she were a robot. The artist seeks to place intimacy at the heart of the theatre experience, and draws inspiration from themes as varied as death, love and loneliness when creating her choreography. ‘I like beauty that has no particular shape and that is a necessary act of expression of the body’, Kaori Ito explains on her website.